


THE BASTARDS

by 01D0021



Series: The Bastards [1]
Category: 5 Seconds of Summer (Band), Andy Black - Fandom, Black Veil Brides, Chase Atlantic (Band), Palaye Royale, The Pretty Reckless
Genre: Anal Sex, Asexuality, Based on Songs, Bella Thorne as Hayley Quinn, Depression, F/F, F/M, M/M, One-Sided Love, Oral Sex, Secret Crush, Self-Harm, Sex, Shower Sex, Underage Drinking, Underage Drug Use, Underage Sex, Underage Smoking, based on music videos, black sheep, broken home, outcast, the bastards, voyeur
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-09-08
Updated: 2020-11-05
Packaged: 2021-03-06 20:42:24
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Underage
Chapters: 7
Words: 9,732
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26365132
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/01D0021/pseuds/01D0021
Summary: Remington was feeling lonely and empty but, somehow, everything changed when he joined a gang, made of a bunch of troublesome kids from the Warhol HS, known as 𝔗𝔥𝔢 𝔅𝔞𝔰𝔱𝔞𝔯𝔡𝔰.
Relationships: Andy Biersack/Remington Leith, Andy Biersack/Taylor Momsen, Christian Anthony/Mitchel Cave, Emerson Barrett/Original Character(s), Luke Hemmings/Ashton Irwin, Remington Leith/Emerson Barrett, Remington Leith/Original Character(s)
Series: The Bastards [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1915939
Comments: 1
Kudos: 18





	1. Lonely

It's half past five and The Bastards are in the school parking lot having fun. The gang always gather there on Fridays after school, before going to Hood's Diner to drink a milkshake and listen to some good music on the jukebox.

That group is known as the popular kids of the school, even though they are a bunch of misfits. They are always wearing matching jackets with the logo of the gang in their backs --- "The Bastards", which is written in the upper part and a pirate skull is right under it --- and there is still that exquisite deadly look permanently on their face that is not even a third of the darkness that exists in their lives. 

"What that fucker is up to do now?" Luke asks to no one in particular as he got up from the car's hood. That question brought everyone's attention to the tall blonde guy with smudged makeup and black dress that was crossing right in front of them, walking straight to the football field while pulling a shovel behind himself.

That guy is known as the black sheep of the Warhol High School. 

Different from The Bastards, whose people look at them with some admiration, respect, envy, and even fear because of their appearance, their tattoos, and the way they look cool with those jackets, that doesn't quite happen when the focus of the attention is Remington Leith.

He is an outcast. 

People avoid him at all costs, but it's not like he tries to get closer to them. Ever since he came to Warhol, in the middle of last semester, exchanged from some shit school from the north, he has been isolated in his own world. Quiet and recluse. But his behavior was not the only thing that made people avoid getting closer to him, it was his appearance. 

Remington is always dressed in black, with black polished nails and lots of bracelets on his wrists. He is always with dark shadows painting his eyes and dark red lipstick on.

But, the truth is that the way he looks at you, without any emotion expressed on his face and that darkness in his eyes, like he wants your death, is what makes people don't get closer.

"Leave him alone", says Emerson after a while, taking his cigarette off of his mouth, with no emotion expressed in his voice. The smoke came out of his mouth, the mist swirling around him before disappearing in the air.

"Let it?" Luke asked like he didn't hear it right. And the guy in the hat turned his head to look at the blond guy with the blue eyes, already tired of the bullshit he knows it's about to come around.

"Yes, don't mess with him. He's not bothering anyone"

"He's bothering me!" Luke says back, acting like the stupid asshole that everyone knows he is.

Hemmings is that guy that, is always saying shit and trying to get on the limit line of everyone. And, because of his good looks, he likes to play with people like they are ragdolls, not caring a shit with their feelings when, after some time he gets bored and throws them away.

Not even his close friends completely understand why he acts that way, but they don't really care because they know that, deep down, Luke is just another misunderstood kid trying to find himself.

"And you're bothering me, so shut up," Emerson says, throwing the cigarette away in anger, completely losing his mind at Luke's insistence.

Luke was dumbfounded. Not believing that Emerson was not even curious about what that crazy kid was about to do.

He looked around, to his other five friends, and his eyes met with Hayley Quinn, which made Hemmings smile, because he knew that if Quinn was by his side, Barrett would agree with anything.

That girl was like some kryptonite to Barrett's ice-cold heart. She is one of the two girls of The Bastard's gang, the other one is Momsen but since Biersack was sent to jail at the beginning of the year she distanced herself from the group.

"Do you think he's going to kill someone?" Michael asked suddenly, still looking in the direction Remington went. That question came before Luke put his plan into action, but he continued to smile, because that was another sign that the others were just as curious as he was. "You know, the school band is rehearsing ... and he has that shovel with him. He could hit someone..."

"He's not going to kill anyone," said Sebastian at last, but he wasn't sure, because he didn't know the boy well. Not closely, at least. "Remington doesn't care about anyone at school, so why would he try to kill someone? He wouldn't be so cold, would he?"

"You never know. There are a lot of psychopaths out there and he fits with the image, he doesn't have friends and is weird. he could be the reincarnation of Norman Bates!"

"Shut up, Luke" Michael snaps and the tall blonde guy rolls his eyes.

"He is not a psycho, he is just lonely..." Hayley says before starting to walk the same path Leith made, tired of her friends talking shit and not doing anything at all. She has thought that Luke would try to convince everyone to go after Remington, but seeing that nothing was happening she decided to do it herself. 

"Shit, Hayley" Emerson says in a low whisper as he sees the girl disappearing around the corner. He lit another cigarette before getting up from the hood of the car and motioning the others to follow the girl.

At the field, the sound of the band is loud, they are all in the uniforms and playing in a stage at the right, the opposite of the bleachers, where the girl in a red Bastard's jacket is sat looking at the blonde guy in a black dress that is in the middle of the field, digging.

The group of six boys walked straight to the girl's direction, to sit close to her and see what Remington is up to do.

"Kill someone would make more sense. Why is he even digging?", Calum was the first to speak, looking to his friends, but no one looked or said anything.

It was weird.

Weirder than normal.

The boy dressed in the black dress kept on digging while the band kept playing.

And The Bastards did nothing but to look at him until they got bored. But, to say that Sebastian was bored would be an underestimation. Leith was digging for so long that Danzig was starting to feel sleepy, even when the others started to chat and joke by his side. Emerson and Hayley were the only others, beside Sebastian, that continued quietly looking at Remington.

It was, at the end of the song, that something happened. Emerson stands and Quinn shot up, running down to the field.

Remington has thrown his shovel aside before lying down in the hole he dug. 

He has dug his own grave.


	2. Nervous Breakdown

On normal days, Remington Leith would do his daily routine with no problems. He would wake up, get dressed, go to school, and then come back home and spend all his day studying or watching tv while waiting for his mother to come back home from her work.

But it wasn't a normal day.

When he closed the door behind him, he expected to be welcomed by the peace of his home after all the hell he went through at school. Because, even though he acted like he didn't care about all the people looking and talking about him behind his back as if he was some bizarre creature, the truth is that it was killing him little by little.

And today, when he should have been studying for the geography exam, his mind kept him busy and didn't rest with the horrible comments about himself. And even when he tried to stop those thoughts, they never stopped.

«You're ugly», he thought.

"No..."

«You are fat», he heard his own mind, his eyes going directly to his thighs

"N-no ..."

«Nobody cares about you»

"Stop..."

«Weak. People don't like you because you are like this», his hands went to his head. Eyes tightly closed while his fingers forcefully grabbed the spiky blonde hair.

«Stupid. No One Likes You»

"No... my mom loves me..."

«Crybaby. She is not even here for you. She never is...»

"S-shut up...", he says with tears forming on his eyes, ready to fall down.

«She hates you. That's why she is never around. You piece of shit»

"Stop, please...", he says bending down his head while his arms hugged his own body. His voice was lower than before and choked in sadness. His heartbeat was increasing, just like his breathing, and he was trembling.

«No one will ever love you. You are the reason your father left you. You're a coward»

"Please...", he whispered, rocking his body back and forth, trying to control his breakdown. "Stop thinking. Stop feeling. Stop crying...", he started to say quietly to himself like a mantra. He straightened his posture, sitting upright while bringing his hands to his face to stop his tears from falling, feeling suddenly tired, like his energy was drained with all the crying.

He opened his eyes, looking at some point on the ceiling, trying to focus on whatever just to stop his mind from thinking and his tears from falling.

«Dumb», another tear fell down.

"Stop thinking. Stop feeling. Stop crying..."

«Weird», another lonely tear. «Worthless»

"Stop thinking. Stop feeling. Stop crying... FUCK!", he stood up and, in a fit of rage, threw everything that was on the table on the floor. He cried out in agony. He screamed so loudly, that the voices fell silent.

But now another thing was on his mind.

(...)

Remington was feeling lonely and worthless. His face and eyes were empty, no emotions crossed his face. With makeup smeared eyes, caused by all the crying, and a black dress that ended in the middle of his thigh -- that he only wore inside of his room far away from the judgemental eyes of people --, he walked down the street. While going to his final destination, all he wanted was that, when he closed his eyes, he wouldn't have to open them again.

(...)

« I just have to wait for the death to come »

With that thought in his mind, he throws the shovel aside and then, lay down on the ground, on the grave he made for himself. Closing his eyes and blanking his head, just waiting for whatever to happen.

He never was the type of person to think about the afterlife, if it even exists but now he was willing to discover the truth, even if, by doing that, he would never tell someone.

Suddenly, he heard the footsteps of someone approaching and, still with his eyes closed, he hoped that this curious human being would leave him alone in his own fuckin' misery.

But it didn't happen.

"Hey! What you doin'?"

That question made his eyes pop open. Looking around only to find a girl with ginger like fire hair and pinup makeup. She was bending forward to look at him, inside the hole that he dug in the ground, with hands on her knees and a perfect arched eyebrow raised in curiosity.

"I'm waiting for my own death"

"Everybody is waiting for that, you know. The death's the only truth that everyone is sure that'll happen"

"That's not what I meant"

"And what you meant?"

"Why are you here?"

"I don't really know. I just came to stop you, you know, if you tried to do some stupid shit that you are gonna regret later on"

"I just wanna die, there's not some kind of mystery" Remington says, closing his eyes once again, hoping that the unknown girl would understand this as a silent sign that he doesn't want her here and then would disappear.

But that didn't happen.

"Well, a lot of people try to die, but don't do it right. You can even be stuck in your own body, with a lot of machines connected to you, if you end up put into a coma or..."

"Why do you care?" Remington cuts the girl "Why do you care if I want to kill myself? No one cares about me and I am tired of waiting for my own death"

"No one deserves to feel alone", She says, sitting on the ground. A smile appeared on her lips as her eyes shone with an idea. "Would you like to be my friend?", she suddenly asks and Remington just stared at her, now Leith is the one that is looking with curiosity at the girl.

That face of hers is kind of familiar to Leith. He looks at her from head to toe, trying to figure out, but nothing on his mind makes sense and he's completely sure that they don't have any classes together.

"No. Now leave me alone", he says, changing to a sitting position to hug his legs while laying the side of his head on the knees.

"Your hand is bleeding", she says when she sees his bloody right hand, ignoring the fact that he just told her to go away.

Remington rolls his eyes in annoyance as he remembers what he did when he was still at home. He had punched the glass of a cabinet when he was in a rage.

"I had an issue", he mumbled, not looking at the girl.

"Well, I like your dress", once again the girl surprised him and he quickly moved his head to look at her. "We should go, one of these days, to buy some clothes together since we have some similar taste. But first. we need to take care of your hand, it would not be pretty if you got an infection because of the earth by contacting the cuts ...", she says, trailing off. Rising from the ground and reaching out to Leith, but Remington just looked at her hand, not moving at all. "And I don't care if you don't wanna be my friend. I still wanna be yours"


	3. Little Bastards

Hayley Quinn is a persistent kind of girl. Others can say she is just a stubborn, hard-headed, recalcitrant kind of girl that doesn't really care about what the others may think --- and this may be partly true since she always says that she doesn't care what others say and think about her. Although deep down, and without telling anyone, she cares a lot about it --- but, if she wants something, she will do everything in her will power to make it real.

So, it's not a big surprise when she walked back to the bleachers, where The Bastards were waiting, with a big smile on her face and Remington Leith walking behind her. He was walking like a lost puppy, with his head hanging low and eyes on his dirty old boots, while she was radiant, her hand was holding his, with entwined fingers and her thumb was unconsciously caressing his hand.

"Guys, Remington. Remington, the guys" Hayley says, moving her free hand to do the presentation even if she wasn't doing it properly since she is not fond of doing this kind of thing. She thinks it's kind of dull, and awkward, to have to do that. "Actually, there are a few more people...", she says, turning her head to look at Remington with her big bright brown eyes meeting his sad ones that moved away quickly but she was unaffected by the action and smiled anyway before continued saying "... they are not from school, but you will meet them at some point"

"I don't think I should be here...", Leith mumbled but they listened and Michael, who was sitting closer from where they were standing shifted his position to take a better look at Remington. A small smile forming on his lips before he started speaking.

"You don't have to be afraid of us or something. People like to gossip and tell rumors about us but it's mostly bullshit"

"What rumors? I don't talk to people and ignore everyone so I don't know any of you", Remington was being sincere and innocent but what he said only made the group laugh, even Hayley giggled, while she was crouching down to sit.

It was actually kind of weird that the newbie has never listened to any of the rumors about The Bastards. Such as Biersack's arrest, Hemmings hooking with every human being with a pair of boobs, Hood's parties, and that Clifford was a drug dealer. But, even if most of them were just lies, that only served to inflate the fame of bad guys, they were always a topic of conversations between the students inside the Warhol High.

With the hand that Hayley was still holding, she pulled Remington to sit in front of her and hugged him. Leith stiffs to the touch, unaccustomed to that kind of affection but relax a little when she whispers on his ear: "You, my friend, needs a hug"

"You don't have to worry about that. The thing is, we are not bad guys" Michael says, continuing from where he stopped.

"We can be..."

"Shut up Luke", Clifford says, annoyed by Luke disturbing his speech, before looking back to Remington "We are a bunch of fucked up bastards with fucked up minds and shit families. So, if you are a mess, you are perfect for us"

"If Hayley thinks you are a misfit, like us, then you clearly should be here" Sebastian decided to say, completing what Michael had said, and a few nodded, agreeing with what they said.

'cause, even if The Bastards were somewhat a closed and limited group of people, and may be a little intimidating, they were actually really receptive. They are all considered a group of troublesome kids, with too different personalities and have some problem, or a lot of them, to take care of. Not so unusual to teenagers these days.

So, even if Remington Leith was somehow conflicted with the idea of joining (or not) the group made of a bunch of misunderstood teenagers, he was already considered part of it.

✘

When the morning light came, the wind of changes blew. Something big was about to happen.

A black Lincoln Continental Mark V parked in front of Leith's house and honked to hurry Remington to get out of the house. Behind the steering wheel was Sebastian Danzig wearing sunglasses and a poker face while trying to ignore Luke Hemmings, who is sitting in the backseat, being a dickhead, and talking shit.

Luke is the only one --- besides the ones who weren't at the bleachers the day before and doesn't even know he joined them --- that is completely opposite with the idea of Remington joining the gang. He doesn't have a really important reason to reject the guy, it's mostly because Remington Leith is weird and Hemmings, even before yesterday's event, always pointed that, saying that something is wrong with the kid.

Hemmings is not really a bad guy. Even though he is always trying to looks like some sexy villain of a cheap cliche of an American movie, he is actually just a teenager trying to discover who he really is. But he never says that. Not even to his best friend, Ashton Irwin, or the others Bastards, he always acts cool and confident like he doesn't have any problems in the world, despite his broken home that everyone knows about. But, now, it's not the moment to talk about this.

When Remington hears the honk of the car, he stops what he is doing, utterly confused. He doesn't have a car, nor his mother, the only car they had was the one his father took with him when he left and Remington was just a ten years old kid at that time. And his mother could afford to buy another one. For a moment he thinks about his neighbors, of the street, but that doesn't make any sense to him, but then he remembers what happened yesterday.

That, after a while of just talking on the bleachers and knowing a little bit about each other, he was brought home and Sebastian offered to take him to school, since the house is on his way.

The memory brought a little smile to appear on his lips and Remington runs to the window to see if it's truly Danzig and not some stranger car with whomever inside. And it's true. From his bedroom window, he can see the big convertible car with two people inside, they being Luke and Sebastian himself. He was hoping that Hayley would be there too --- since she was the one that makes him feel more comfortable --- but she is not there and he doesn't know if she will join them on the ride.

Another honk snapped Leith out of his thoughts and seeing he was still naked, with only the towel covering his torso, he rushed to put on his clothes.

✘

At the same time, in another part of Vegas Valley, inside of the North's detention center, a guard approached the cell where Biersack was sleeping on the cold rock floor. The old fat man in uniforms hits the bars of the cell just to make noise and wake him up.

"It's your lucky day, kiddo", the man says when Biersack stands up. "You are free to go. And, if you are smart, we'll never see each other again", the guard says, unlocking the door and moving it so Andy could get out. 

The guard locks the door again before guiding Biersack to gets his belongings, there was nothing besides his clothes, his cheap old phone that has no charge, and his almost empty wallet, inside just one dollar and his documents

He changed to his old clothes, that were smelling, but he just ignored that since there was not any other option, and left the center with a guard following him until he went out of the door.

Outside he was hit by the light and warmth of the sun on his pale skin.

"Hey, Batman! Let's go before they wanna put you inside the cave again", that voice was something Biersack missed and looking at its owner made a big smile shows on his face.

Right there, leaning against his beloved car --- an Impala '67 --- was a beautiful blonde girl wearing aviator sunglasses on her face, a black cropped shirt with a red The Bastards jacket, faux leather skinny pants, and stripper heels. She is his longtime girlfriend, and, supposedly, the love of his life.

But the game pieces are just being positioned...


	4. We Stitch These Wounds

Sebastian parked his car in the same place every morning, it's parked in the second slot, in the middle row, which is the closest to the entrance door of the main school building. Which gives the perfect vision of The Bastards to the curious people. At this moment, the parking lot is full of teenagers, and there are still ten minutes until the bell rings. 

Luke had jumped out of the car before it had stopped and walked straight to a group of girls wearing the Warhol's cheerleader uniforms. ‘Cause, like always, he is trying to get his mind out of stuff, and hooking up with some easy girl is one of his favorite ways to distract himself.

Remington's eyes followed Luke’s moves, but his mind was not on the blue-eyed boy. He has nothing crossing his mind at the moment and has completely blanked out every single noise and the people that were around him. This is something that he does quite a lot when he feels lonely, even though there are a lot of people around him. Different from those other times, he doesn't stay like that for a long time. Because, for the first time, he is not alone. Sebastian, who's still on the driver seat, is with him and doesn't take long to catch his attention by tapping on his knee. 

“If you keep looking at him like this, he is going to hate you even more” Sebastian said calmly as he pushed the sunglasses closer to his eyes. And Remington, who had turned his head to look at him when he felt the older's touch, looked at Hemming again. The tall blonde guy was looking at him from afar, still with the cheerleaders around him, with a stiff frown, looking pissed and, from his look, Remington knew he was the reason. Once again, Sebastian tapped his knee to get his attention back before saying: "Don't think too much about Hemmings, he doesn't really hate you. Despite his size and his mean face, he is actually inoffensive. He just doesn't like changes, in time he will open up and you will be able to understand him".

“Hey, baby boy!” Suddenly, a female voice rang out beside Remington. The boy turned his head to see the smiley red-haired girl standing by the car, her arms crossed on the surface while she's leaning on the car.

"You came walking?" Remington asks, seeing that she was a little flushed on the face. And it kind of made Remington curious as to why Sebastian hadn't picked her up on the way.

"I live close", she says. The smile never leaves her face and it impresses Remington. She is always smiling and he doesn’t understand why she is always so happy. 

“Where’s Emerson?” Sebastian asks the red haired girl. Barrett and Quinn are neighbors and most of the time they come together to school. But, instead of answering with her lips, she points to the said boy who was walking to the car’s direction and, weirdly, was coming from the school building and not from the main entrance. 

As soon as he reached the car, he hopped in to sit beside Sebastian instead of standing beside the girl. She could enter if she wanted but since it was almost time for the first class, she was lazy to do so.

“Hey” Barrett says with an empty voice and expressionless. 

“You finished?” Hayley asks Emerson who nods and murmurs that he will show her later. 

They actually came together to school and the reason why the boy was coming from the school building was that he wanted to use the Art Room to finish one of his creations. 

Usually, he likes to do his personal works at home, inside his own studio, but his 003 fineline pen was out of ink, and as it was 3 am when he was drawing, so he had to stop and wait for school since the only store that sells good quality art supplies is in the center of Paradise and only opens at 10 o'clock which is later than the time when the school starts.

The bell rings, signaling the students that the class will begin, which makes the people that were hanging out on the parking lot start to move in the direction of the big greyish building. As if on cue a black Impala ‘67 crosses the main entrance. Everyone stops walking and turns to look at the car that didn’t show up in the parking lot for a few months since Biersack was arrested, which means only one thing

He’s back. 

"Holy shit", Hayley says, catching Remington's attention and he notices that the girl and the boys around him are acting like the other students, following the car that is slowly coming closer to them.

"What's going on?" Remington asks, confused watching as Emerson and Sebastian get out of the car, Quinn and Barrett circling the same to get to the other side while Luke leaves the cheerleaders behind to approach the other Bastards. 

"The Bastards are complete again", Emerson nonchalantly answers when the Impala parks on the empty slot beside where the three were standing and Remington decides to get out and stands close to them, but a little behind since he is not fully understanding what is going on.

A black-haired guy with lots of tattoos on full display and a blonde skinny girl come out of the car. Remington can hear some students starting to gossip around him, but they don’t do it quietly and discreetly, he can hear them saying how the guy is dangerous, a troublemaker and that he probably escaped from jail. But, why would someone escape from jail to come to hell (reads High School).

“Hey, guys. Miss me?” The guy says looking at his group of friends with a big smile on his face. The blonde girl walks to his side and different from the boy, she doesn't look so happy while standing there and looking at them.

Hayley was stunned looking at him. Her mouth was slightly open and she blinked a lot, trying to make sure he wouldn't suddenly disappear right before her eyes.

“You… you are here. You are really here...” Hayley speaks. Her voice was low, almost a whisper. Cause, even if she was looking directly at him she couldn’t believe in her eyes. 

“Yeah” The boy says, his smile growing big seeing the girl’s reaction “Are you not going to hug me and say that you are happy to see me?” He playfully teases her and she frowns. A pout forms on her lower lip while tears start to form on her eyes and she runs to the tall guy before it drops. She really missed him and was really sad when he was put into jail. 

She cried a lot on that day. Everything went wrong that day and Andy was not even the real guilty but he was in the wrong place, in the wrong time with the wrong people and before he could do anything he was sent behind bars. 

Andy hugs the small girl tightly on his arms. He can feel that she is crying hard and let her cry because he knows that she was probably containing all her true feelings behind a mask of happiness for quite a while. 

“When did you get out?” Emerson decides to ask what everyone was thinking.

“Today” Biersack says and looks up. When he does that, he notices a new face with them and is quietly surprised since it’s not everyday that someone joins the gang. And, if so, that must be a very good reason, which is curious about. “Apparently, Taylor pulled some strings to get me out of jail” Andy says, his blue eyes never leaving the new kid that he doesn’t even know the name.

“She paid for your freedom!? Man, you are so lucky to get a rich girlfriend” Hemmings says, stretching his hand to do a bro handshake with Biersack, which Andy does even without paying attention. 

“Who’s the blondie?” Biersack asks. And Remington, who was absent-minded, completely not paying attention to what was going on around him, got startled when he felt Sebastian placing his arm around his shoulder, shaking him a little to wake him from his daydreams.

“This is Remington Leith, our new little Bastard. Remington, this is Andy Biersack, our favorite rebel” Sebastian says, doing the presentations. 

Leith looks at Biersack and their eyes meet. His eyes are crystal blue and shivers run down his spine when he feels those eyes looking at him so intensely, those eyes travel down Leith's body and back to his face. 

Remington doesn't know why but he feels his face heating up and his heart beating a little faster than before. He never felt this way before and he doesn’t know why he is feeling these strange sensations, but since he never felt this before he considers that something must be wrong with him. 

“Hey, we are not going to class, are we?” Hayley says, breaking the hug. Her voice was hoarse, her face slightly pink and stained by the tears but she didn't care about that when she turned to look at her friends. “Let’s reunite all The Bastards and get wasted”

“It’s 7AM” Sebastian says and the girl laughs loudly.

“Fuck that! Andy is back!”


	5. You'll Be Fine

It's a hot day, the street thermometer showed it was 43°C, and there was only one thing that The Bastards liked to do on days when the temperature in Paradise felt like Hell itself, go to the lake's cabin.

The car drove down south, along the Great Basin Highway. The wind blew through their hair as the car ran fast across the asphalt. Inside of Sebastian's car, Emerson was standing on the passenger's seat, his left hand holding his hat so it wouldn't fly away with the wind. 

Different from before, Sebastian was now driving the car carrying three people. While Emerson was beside him, enjoying the wind, Remington and Hayley were sitting in the back seat. As soon as Hayley suggested that they should go to the cabin, Luke chose to look around for Clifford, Irwin, and Hood, so not only would he warn about Biersack's return, but he would avoid spending another minute with Leith or be the third wheel with the couple.

Remington was gazing mesmerized at the landscape as the car crossed the roads in the middle of the desert and the rocky mountains. Even though he had moved to Paradise a few months ago, he never did something like "explore the place", so being inside of a car going to a place that was so different from his old city was somewhat magical.

Meanwhile, Hayley was having fun just by looking at Leith, the boy looked like a puppy. Happy to take a ride. And just that image made her happier because she knew that he was not like that before he joined The Bastards.

"Hey, Seb!" Hayley called the older boy when she remembered something pretty much important. Only receiving a 'Hmm' as an answer from Sebastian, which meant he was paying attention, so she continued "We need to stop by somewhere to buy things to eat and drink. Maybe in Boulder City. We left the pantry empty the last time we went there"

"Call Clinton. I left my fake ID home" Sebastian says calmly, looking at the rear mirror to see if the others are following. Danzig is one of the oldest guys from the group, he is not yet legal, nor the others. Biersack and he are three years away from 21 so they are always recurring to the fake ID to buy stuff like alcohol, cigarettes, and molly

They would need to use it to buy weed too, but last summer they met Mitchel Cave, a sixteen years old skinny boy who has dumped school, his nose is pierced on the septum, wears very loose clothing or none and always let part of his hair grows, only to wear braids on it while the other is on an undercut. And Mitty has a marijuana garden growing in his attic, which, with the help of his older brother, Clinton, his parents know nothing about.

Clinton would come later with Mitchel because they were waiting for Christian Anthony to find a way to skip class. He is the son of the reverend of the church near the E Harmon Ave, who's is a strict father that is always trying to stop the bad influences to reach his son and mainly stop his son from being friends with The Bastards. Everyone in that part of Paradise knows that Kras is the reverend's son, so it's harder for him to get away easily with no one saying to the old man what he has done.

“I will call him”, Hayley says, grabbing her phone out of the bag.

“So do it quickly, we are almost at the sand road and you know we don’t have phone signal in that part”

They were getting close, only 30 minutes away until the cabin. And all the human traces were gradually disappearing, leaving them with only the sun and the wild nature of the land. There were no more houses around. There were only three cars riding on the desert road.

They turned left onto a narrow unpaved dirt road, that would have gone unnoticed if they weren't looking for it, leaving the asphalt, and soon the sound of Hayley's sigh could be heard on the first car when the call with Clinton ended because of the loss of signal.

The dirt road took them straight to the mountain, which made Remington look to Hayley in confusion, the only thought on his mind was: «Why are we riding to the mountain, is it a collective suicide pact?»

Hayley felt his eyes on her and smiled while turning her head to look at him while saying the Finding Nemo's quote: "When you come to this trench, swim through it, not over it". She said that at the perfect moment because soon Remington saw a small risk on the mountain, which when approached, the ‘risk’ turned into a small space in between. The space was big enough for the cars to pass through it and Remington for the first time, in a long time, laugh. And his laugh is adorable, so Hayley promised herself that she would hear that more often, she would make it happen.

As soon as they passed the path inside the mountain, they were faced with the beautiful blue waters of the lake. The lake was right in front of them, on a large plain surrounded by rocky hills.

The cars went around the lakeshore going to a wooden cabin in the middle of nowhere that looked doomed. There was no vegetation rounding the cabin nor sign of living life inside the place, and due to the condition of the few broken glass that was still fixed in the window, it hadn't been clean in decades.

“Welcome to The Bastards’ Refuge” Hayley says when Sebastian parks the car in front of the cabin, getting out of the car shortly thereafter. Her hand grabbed Remington's as soon as he got out of the vehicle, so the boy wouldn't stay away or feel left out. Leith wasn't that close to the others, since he only joined the gang four days ago and every time they were together he always seemed to be struggling, stepping on eggshells, afraid to do or say something wrong.

“Hay, don't talk like that to make a pigsty look like a resort” Emerson says, bored, turning his head to look at the ginger head girl who smiled wide at him even if his face was completely blank.

The truth is, Hayley can see through that blank face. Ever since they met, when they were kindergarten kids, she could always read him like an open book even though no one could. But, even not showing nothing on his face, something changed at the moment he looked down. Hayley could see that but she didn't understand and before she could ask, he turned his back and walked away. 

“I… Hmm…” She was a little lost, not really knowing if she should go over Emerson or stay with Remington but decided to let Barrett have his space to figure out the puzzles inside his head before going there to talk “Let’s go inside. I know this place doesn't look anywhere close to reliable, but", Hayley emphasized the last word and started to swing their intertwined hands back and forth while saying: "I promise it's better inside. It's kind of a metaphor about us, you know. We are not really good, outside, but we are friendly and warm when you get to know us" 

“I like that”

“Good, let’s go”


	6. Get Higher

The old wooden cabin is placed in an isolated area that once, a long time ago, was a small village of constructors that lived by the lake to work on the city's water supply, but as soon as they finished building that artificial lake and the entire irrigation project, the place gradually became empty, with the builders leaving in order to find new places to live and work on. The old cabins that once the workers lived on slowly were crushing down by the time and being covered with the white-yellowish sand, leaving behind that lonely cabin that The Bastards took over as their personal refuge. 

And, since there was no one living near there, they couldn't listen to anything besides themselves. There was the only place that they could be themselves and do whatever crossed their disturbed minds. The only problem of the cabin may be the fact that there was no electricity, which means no light, Wi-Fi, a warm shower, or anything that needed electrical energy to work on. 

The sun was the only source of light and the fact that the star was slowly moving in the sky meant only one thing, the time that was passing by. They didn't have a clock working inside the cabin since they never remembered to bought batteries to put on, so they could only follow the sun moviment or use their phones that always have the battery going down since they couldn't use the charger. 

When the sun would went down behind the rocky hills, announcing the beginning of the night, The Bastards would made a bonfire with some wood that once was part of old cabins that they found around the lake area. That was some kind of a ritual of the gang, build a bonfire where they would sit around the fire to play the guitar and sing any song they can think of, while sharing a joint, drinking any alcohol that they would have at the moment while eating junk food that was mostly potato chips. 

The last three Bastards to arrive came a few hours before they started to build the bonfire, almost at the same moment that Michael came back from Boulder City --- the closest city to their secret refuge, even being forty kilometers away ---, where he went with Sebastian to buy things to fill the pantry. 

"Guess who we cross the path with when we make the cute boy jump over the school wall?" Clinton says standing next to Christian, laughing as he circles Kras's neck with his right arm, while looking at some of the gang members who came to talk to them as soon as they saw their car arriving.

“The old Anthony?” Calum guesses, and then lets out a loud laugh when he sees how Christian's face contorted in a grimace.

“My father will kill me when I come back home...”

"You should have seen the reverend's face when he saw his precious little boy going inside the car!" Mitty says laughing his ass out while jumping out of the car’s roof "Clinton pressed the gas before that bitch would start nagging us, but damn..."

"Don't call him 'bitch', he is my dad" Kras says, a small pout forming on his lips and Mitty smiles at him, grabbing his face while Clinton moves away from the duo, walking to where the others were, motioning to Calum and Ashton to follow him so they would let the other two alone.

"Don't do this face if you don't wanna a kiss..." Mitchel says, tilting his head to the side while raising his eyebrow, his left hand holding his jaw and keeping Christian face directed towards himself. 

Mitty decided to play a little, coming closer to the other boy just to see his reaction. He saw the younger boy closing his eyes, waiting for whatever would happen next, which made the older one smile slightly.

"Hey, you two, come help and us with the fire!" Emerson shouts, careless if they were having a moment or not. And, as soon as they listened to that, they jumped away from each other. 

The two approached the group, who decided while playing 'rock, paper and scissors' who should go to collect the wood that they would use to make the fire. Remington, Ashton, Luke and Andy was the one that lost the game and have to go for the wood while the others stayed behind, preparing the place for the fire, placing some kangas on the floor, which would serve as a mat to sit on, and taking the food and drink close to the lake. 

Remingtong didn’t know where to look out for wood, since he could only see the white-yellowish sand and the blue lake’s waters. But the sky was changing colours which only meant that the night was coming by and he should do it before he couldn’t see anything. 

He walked a little, a few meters from the cabin, looking at the sandy ground. He wasn't even believing that he could find anything, since there was no forest or a single tree around, but he kept walking and looking for something, for anything that could catch on fire.

"We could set the house on fire ..." He mutters absentminded as he kicks a pebble while walking. He was so distracted that didn't even hear someone approaching, walking behind him, closer and closer.

"I think that we were not properly presented yet, right?" A voice came behind Remington, startling him, and Leith abruptedly stopped walking. Turning around to see who was talking to him, which got him surprised because now he was face to face with the pale tattooed tall guy --- who was basically the reason why they came to this cabin in the middle of nowhere --- standing really close to himself --- since he had to quickly stop moving when the younger one stopped walking so they wouldn't hit each other --- and giving him a side smile "Paddington, right?"

"Remington" The blond corrected, feeling awkward to be alone in the other's presence. Leith doesn't like to talk with unknown people and keep the conversation moving, he always felt weird while trying to do so "Paddington is that bear...with red hat"

"Ah, yeah, sorry about that. But you are cute as that bear so..." Andy says casually, looking at Remington's face, seeing how his cheeks gradually turned pink and the younger one looked away, because Remington feels kind of weird after hearing that. No one ever told him that he looked cute, or anything good at all, so he didn't know what to say or do. 

But at that right moment, Biersack was thinking just that, that the boy in front of him is really cute with his flushed cheeks.

“Hm...” Leith says awkwardly, looking at anything but Biersack “Why are you talking to me?”

“They told me you are new in town and just joined the gang. And I totally knew you were kinda lost walking around here, so I decided to help”, Biersack says truthly, hoping that Leith would catch the sincerity of his words and would start to feel comfortable around him, ‘cause he really wanted to be friends with the new guy. “I’m Andrew by the way, but you can call me Andy. It’s fine. It’s kinda weird when people call my real name”, Andy says and smiles when he sees Remington looking up at him. “Oh, it's getting darker faster than I expected. Come on, let's find some wood for the fire” Andy says as he grabs Remington's hand. 

Biersack didn't see it, he was walking ahead with his right arm stretched behind himself, pulling Leith to follow him, too focused on finding the wood. But that action made Leith’s cheeks redder than before and his heartbeat suddenly increased when he looked at their hands together, leaving Remington slightly confused by not understanding his own body's reactions.

(...)

The fire crackled high, and the sparks seemed to fly towards the night sky. Which, by the distance of the city, allowed that group of teenagers to enjoy the sea of twinkle little stars. Maybe it was the alcohol or just the smoke of the joint, probably both, that was making Leith don’t think quite right, but that place looked somewhat magical under the night's veil.

“So… never ever I ever… hmm… slept with no one here” Christian says while looking at his big red cup that was filled with vodka. Play this game was Mitchel idea after hearing Michael complaining of boredom added to the fact that the braided boy wanted to know more about the gang's new addition, which he didn't even know the name and until that moment had been quietly sipping his drink and just nodding when Quinn spoke/whispered to him.

“Does being part of a threesome with someone here count?” Calum asks at the same time that Momsen, Biersack and Clifford were taking a sip from their cups.

“Of course it counts! I saw your ugly ass!”, Michael says while pushing Calum's arm so that the other boy would brought the cup to his mouth and drink it up.

“Firstly...” Calum says before taking a sip. “Second, my ass is beautiful. You are just jealous that I have a peach booty while you have a pair of bulldog cheeks”, Hood nonchalantly says, making the group burst out laughing.

“That’s a fuckin’ lie!”

“Whatever makes you sleep at night, baby”

“When that happened?” Andy asked them so they would stop bickering, and just like he thought, it worked.

“Wesley threw a party on the weekend before the beginning of the semester and… What was her name?” Calum asks, turning to Michael who shrugged. “Anyway. At some point of the night we both were on a bed with whatever-was-her-name. Boring story. So, who’s next?” 

“Leith should do it. He almost didn’t drink ever since we started” Hemming says with a challenging look directed to the boy who was sitting on the opposite side.

Remington’s eyes gazed at Hayley who lifted her brows, asking without words what was happening inside of his head, which the boy shrugged, because he didn’t know what he could say.

“Say whatever crosses your mind. It doesn’t have to be funny or anything” She says, also shruggering, which left Remington thinking about what he could say. Nothing was actually ‘crossing his head’ so he just looked around a few seconds, looking at the face of each one that was there with him. 

“I never fell in love”


	7. Love Is Not Easy

“I never fell in love”

Everything love-related is complicated. 

When you feel like you're falling in love with someone, you don't know how to act around nor with them, you get all insecure about what to say and, especially, if you should or not say that you feel like that, 'cause there are three ways to end up that awkward conversation when you confess your true feelings: the first one, the person feel the same; the second, the person doesn't feel the same way; and, the third result, is that the person HAVE love you before but doesn't love you anymore and you were too blind to notice that earlier. Which makes you think that you were too stupid to not see that before or to feel the same at that time. 

It’s complicated when you fall in love with someone and it’s even worse to fall out of love. When your feelings are returned and a relationship develops, there're too many memories and feelings that have to disappear so it won't hurt everytime you are around that person, but it's never easy to lessen that pain and feelings. 

“So you never fell in love before?” Michael asked, turning his body to look better at the blond boy, seeing him shaking his head negatively. “How about a kiss?”

“No” Remington quietly answered. All pairs of eyes were on him and he was feeling extra uncomfortable for being the center of attention. 

“Never had sex before?” Luke asks in a mocking tone, making Remington feel even more awkward. 

“If he have never kissed, how could he have sex before?!” Calum asked and Luke shrugged, but before he could even open his mouth to answer, Mitchel did.

“You can pay for sex and it’s a kind of rule to not kiss a client”

“Are you a slut now to know their rules?” Luke asked laughing but it soon ended when he heard Mitchel’s answer.

“So what? Wanna have an hour with me?” Mitty remarked raising an eyebrow, a mocking smile appearing on his face as he playfully moved his right hand over his naked torso, the movement going from his collarbone to his covered member.

“Oh shut up!”

“Do you even know the gender you like?” Christian asked Remington quietly, but it somehow sounded really loud since everyone turned quiet and waited for his answer. That question, even when it has been said out of personal curiosity, intrigued all The Bastards, even more the ones that saw Leith wearing that black dress in the last week.

To say the truth, Christian is, in a way, somewhat innocent --- even if he has being friends with Mitchel since he was a little kid --- and he is conflited with himself, about who he really is and what he really likes, mostly because of the way the younger Cave acts around him and the fact that his father is a reverend and is always saying how wrong a same-sex relationship is. That it is considered a sin, not accepted by God, and punished with the fire of hell.

“He doesn’t have to like a specific gender” Ashton says, shrugging and taking a sip of his drink. The game was long forgotten so they were normally drinking, not caring about who would be emptying the cup first.

“Yeah, or he can be a fuckin’ plant, like our dearly Hayley”

“I’m not a fuckin’ plant, Luke. And I’ve told it several times, but I'll say it again. I’m a panromantic asexual, which means I can fall in love someone, whoever it is. I just doesn’t want to have sex because I don't have sexual attraction. So, why would I do that? Just because you are a manwhore, it doesn’t mean everybody should be always looking for sex”

“Yeah, yeah, whatever”

“Fuck you, Luke” Hayley says, standing up and stomping away from the group even if they were calling her name and asking her to stay. Remington looked around, confused about the reason why no one was following the girl, who, as soon as she moved away from the fire light disappeared in the shadow. 

Leith was about to get up, to follow Quinn, when a low deep voice stopped him: "Don't", Emerson says. He was sitting at the other side of Hayley's place. His face was empty of expression and he was looking straight to the red flames "She doesn't like to talk to anyone when she's not fine. The better you have to do is wait for her to come back".

“Well, she was there for me, so I’ll be there anyway to her, even if she sends me to hell” Leith says and moves away from the teenager’s circle. He grabs his phone and uses the lantern to move around the place, trying to find the girl. 

“I think the game is over, so what about skinny-dipping?” Mitchel says, standing up and taking off the rest of his clothes, soon being followed by Calum. Both of them screaming while running to the calm lake water, screaming even more when their naked body felt how cold the water was. 

“They are crazy”, Michael says, smiling like the Cheshire Cat, while taking off his clothes too “What are you all pussies doing still sitting down? Let’s go! On for all!” He screams, also running to the lake.

“He’s the crazy one” Clinton says and looks around, his eyes glancing at the rest of The Bastards there were still there, his eyes stopping at Christian who has started to take the clothes off. “And, of course you will join them. Well, I’m hungry” He says, getting up and going to the cabin to look out for food, because the food they brought outside was already over.

“Wanna join them?” Momsen asks her boyfriend without looking at him, but when she turns to Andy she only sees the found smile on his face “You missed this, right?”

“Yeah” Biersack says, smiling even more. Momsen smiles, gazing at him before she kisses his cheek. “You can join them. I’ll stay here for a while”, he says, still looking at the guys that were having fun on the water. Pushing each other to force them to dive, throwing water at each other and essentially laughing out loud for whatever shit. 

“You know what, Emerson?” Luke says, catching the boy's attention. Hemmings had moved around to sit by Barrett's side and was eyeing the boy, just to see the reaction that he was waiting for with what he was about to say. "If you continue to be this stoic, frigid, void of emotions guy, you will end up without your crazy queen", Luke says mentioning Hayley Quinn, playing with the sound of her surname that looked like that word. 

“I don’t know what you are talking about”, Emerson says. Not a single emotion crossing his face which makes Luke roll his eyes, bored to be even tryin’.

“Let’s stop this pretending game, shaw we? I know you like Hayley and that you are kinda jealous about the way she’s all over him. And don’t try to deny it”, Luke says quickly when he saw Emerson opening his mouth to give an answer. “It’s crystal clear that you have fallen in love with your best friend a long time ago, but since then you’ve only played the wrong game and now, that weirdo, Leith, is clearly falling for Quinn’s enchant. And we know how this is gonna end. With one, or the three of you, being with a broken heart”. Luke said, glancing at Barrett’s body to see his physical reaction before standing up to join the others on the lake, and, as he expected, Emerson was tense. ‘Cause, even if his face was expressionless, his hand was in fist while his shoulders were stiff.

As soon as Luke moved out of his sign, Emerson growled, angrily, closing his eyes. Because, deep down, he also believed in everything that Hemmings had said. But as soon as he closed his eyes, he opened them once again, remembering that Biersack was sitting there. But when his eyes moved to where Andy should be sitting at, he only saw an empty space.


End file.
